Page 80 of Nothing to Win

“Is he on his way?Are you bringing him here to defile our home again?”

So much for support.

“No,” she said.“Brogan and I are fine.I’m going to bed.Goodnight.”

Shutting the door, she didn’t want to hear more.Her head rattled.Desperate to shut it off, she went to turn on the shower and stripped off to step under the spray.

Gault.Her father would never come to her like he had if it wasn’t for Gault.The idea her father would console her on matters of the heart was insane.Never once had her father come to her room to console her over anything.That the Gault trip was that week was no coincidence.

It was stark.When things with Brogan did end and she was back there for good, she’d have to keep her walls up high.The truth wouldn’t come from her.Part of the deal was that no one should know their relationship was fake even after it was finished.To assert that was her reason for keeping it to herself would be a lie.She didn’t want people to know because she didn’t want the world to believe, to know, that the best time in her life was nothing more than a con.

After the shower, she tried to finish her reading, nothing was going in.Brogan was still in her head when she crawled under the covers to sleep, or try to sleep.

He hadn’t called.

He’d asked her to call.

Some juvenile corner of her psyche wanted him to reach out.She couldn’t stop thinking about her own naïveté.Agreeing to this deal, thinking she could keep her distance… She needed to get out more, increase her experience with men.Roxie would help with that, if her parents allowed it.Goddamn, she couldn’t return to the status quo.Independence.Autonomy.She wanted to be in charge of her own life.

The phone didn’t ring.The call wasn’t coming.Did that mean he wasn’t thinking of her?She’d walked out the door and evaporated from his life in a flash.

As it approached midnight, she was still wide awake.His lack of compulsion encouraged her to surrender her own.Nothing else would work, the urge wouldn’t go away.

With a huff, she grabbed her phone from the nightstand to dial his number.Six rings, seven… ten.He’d told her every other number in his phone was set to go to voicemail.Only hers was given the maximum of twenty rings before it would switch over.

Though she’d lost count, it got damn close to that number of rings before he picked up.

“Yeah,” he grumbled into the phone.

Relief at the sound of his voice didn’t last long.That grumble meant nothing good.Apparently their argument and her abrupt departure hadn’t been playing on his mind or tormenting him as it had her.

“Did I wake you?Go back to sleep, I’ll just—”

“No,” he said and coughed, then there was some background noise like maybe he was sitting up or moving around.“I drank too much.”

Stunned to the point of speechless, she didn’t know how to process that.He’d never said that, never done it.Brogan?Drink to excess?No.Never.Not even at home.She’d seen him drink alcohol plenty of times and he could hold his liquor.Whatever amount he’d consumed had to be considerable for him to dub it “too much.”

“You’re drunk?”

“No, I didn’t say that,” he said.The way he sniffed and then cleared his throat suggested otherwise.“I’m glad you called.”

Letting herself smile, she got some validation in that.Though that flattery didn’t last.If she’d been the cause of his going overboard with the booze, that couldn’t mean anything good.Brogan’s inhibitions may be lowered, this maybe wasn’t the best time to talk.

God, she was over thinking.This was normal.Right?Everything was normal.They didn’t have to “talk,” she hadn’t walked out for—as far as she wanted him to know anyway.

Normal.Flirt.“And Julius said I’d be the one with enough alcohol in her system to give you your happy ending tonight.If I’d stayed, would I be getting mine?”

Without a doubt, she expected him to flirt back.Instead, silence.

At least thirty seconds passed before he spoke.“I’ll honor my part of the deal.”

Confused, her brow creased.“Okay… good,” she said, having expected nothing less and wondering why he’d say such a thing.

They were fine.She hadn’t left for—her father wanted her to say something was different.She didn’t understand why Brogan sounded like he thought the same thing too.

“It’s over.”

Those words landed like lead.